How much would you actually spend on some new software?

[futures_untold]

Thanks!

[hasezwei]

if it's under 100 i won't trust it (unless it's something really small but then just bundle that shit!)
if it's over 300 i can't afford it

[-[2]DAY_-]

i voted 25-50 based on the "2 mates coding in their bedroom" description.
I would pay more for products from an established business, for a lot of reasons.... able to demo the product, support, updates, reputation, quality control, warranty

[futures_untold]

Interesting.

So far I'm getting the sense that there are many serious minded producers here who are not skint or afraid to spend.

Maybe the next poll should be whether people actually buy their software ever lol

[slothrop]

Make nice GUI's. There is way to many indie companies out there who are making great software with the most ugly GUIs and it'll be nice to be able to type in parameters as well as having knobs/sliders, one thing a lot of companies forget.

Eg AdmiralQuality - lovely sounding thing but I'd never buy it because the GUI would give me a headache.

But I'd actually go further than this and say that in the current VST market the GUI pretty much has to be a key selling point. We've got softsynths that sound great (SynthSquad, ACE etc), softsynths with bucketlods of features (Massive, Predator, Omnisphere, Zebra, er, Reaktor...) so it's increasingly hard to stand out from the crowd based on an all purpose synth with "ultra-analogue style filters" or "574 different filter modes", but a synth (and a GUI) that's uniquely geared to a specific purpose to make a fiddly task flow easily or to streamline a baffling array of options can still be basically the only thing worth having in its particular niche.

[nowaysj]

Totally disagree re gladiator vs alchemy's ui. People talk about alchemy because camel audio had a wide install base from a long tradition of being cracked and sounding/working pretty good, which they built upon and amplified through a pretty major marketing campaign. I've personally never seen one single marketing piece by 2tone so would not be surprised by their much lower market share. (only thing I heard about them was their injecting malware into paying user's systems )

IMO, the sound and ui of Gladiator are superior. Then again some people like tabbed interfaces, with tuns of panels hidden away, just waiting to be paged through. I am not one of those people. For example, I prefer my house to be large and open, rather than a rambling labyrinth of closed doors.

Gladiator's ui is cluttered, so it does take a usability hit right off the bat, but a half hour into that, you pretty much know where everything is, and an hour into use, you can pretty much access anything you need immediately (without clicking through pages). Then again, alchemy is a more complex synth... But beyond that, Gladiator's ui is just juicy. I relate to/learn software that appears to be hardware.

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In terms of price, at or below $100 I am game for just about anything. I now own more software than I need, but I'm always willing to add one more tasty bit if it is reasonably priced, and I don't mind taking the risk at that price point. I'm sorry but $300 for one vst plugin is just not legit. If it is absolutely the best at what it does, and is from a rock solid company that isn't douchey to their customers, doesn't require hardware shackles, is unique/not reproducible with freeware or other cheaper alternatives, then MAYBE.

I'm sorry, but at that price, you've strayed into hardware land. You can get incredible hardware synths used for $300, and incredible fx used for only $100. I feel much better buying hardware at that price. It's likely got a better sound, is more fun to use/more inspirational, will retain it's value, doesn't require authorization and updateing and other computery bullshit. The multiinstance argument for software is less relevant in a hybrid/resampling context so hardware really comes out on top for me at that price point.

I wouldn't be misled by people in this thread saying they'd spend a tun on your software. Many of them know you, and would like to support you, but that tier of customer is limited.


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You clear all this marketing research with the insect overlords?

[futures_untold]

My real market reasearch will be going through the published company accounts of other music software houses.

Just wanted a laymans idea of where people were at.

For instance, I wouldn't really spend more than £100 on any software, but people here say they do (which is nice)

[djbmc]

it depends what i was spending the money on, spending £400 on a DAW is something i'd consider, spending £400 on a multi sampled string section isn't.

[legend4ry]

Has to be said, I can count the good indie developers in music software on my hands and the great ones on a few fingers. A product from an unknown company which retails at 100+ would put me off straight away.

I'd be aiming for the 10-30 quid mark (personally)

[JBE]

yo hooo yoo hooo a pirate's life for meeee

EDIT: I'm going to laugh my ass off If i'm the only one to admit to pirating software. I bet at least 25% of the people that say they buy it all just pirate it all.


If I had no money would that mean I have no right to use massive? Would that mean I have no right to make EDM at all? Should the poor only use garageband demos? Seems kinda fucked up, but asi es la vida

No, you don't have the right to use it. Can you use it without paying for it? Sure you can, but you will do it illegally, and therefore the right to use it is voided. The right to use it comes when the price to use it is paid. Stealing something is one thing, but thinking you have the right to steal something is a whole different story. If you want to admit you steal the software, that's fine, but the fact you think you have the right to do so makes you look like a complete douchebag. Besides, there's plenty of free options that can be used to make EDM.


The price I would pay would be completely dependant on what the software does. If it's just a simple little spring delay plugin then chances of me paying for that is very low considering all the free options out there. When it comes to certain synths I won't even push the 50 dollar mark. Most of the synths I own I managed to pick up for 50 or less thanks to some really nice deals, like Z3ta+. I think the most I ever spent on an effect plugin was about 25 dollars or so, and I felt comfortable at that price for what I was getting. I think if I had the money to spend, and something really nice came along I would definitely drop 100+, but chances of me having that kind of money to just drop right now is low. Too many bills! I like having a place to sleep at night and food on the table, so rent and food comes before software....most of the time.

I guess my answer would be in the 25-50 range based on the software and the money I have to spend, but on a really good day it could definitely exceed 100.

[slothrop]

yo hooo yoo hooo a pirate's life for meeee

EDIT: I'm going to laugh my ass off If i'm the only one to admit to pirating software. I bet at least 25% of the people that say they buy it all just pirate it all.


If I had no money would that mean I have no right to use massive? Would that mean I have no right to make EDM at all? Should the poor only use garageband demos? Seems kinda fucked up, but asi es la vida

No, you don't have the right to use it. Can you use it without paying for it? Sure you can, but you will do it illegally, and therefore the right to use it is voided. The right to use it comes when the price to use it is paid. Stealing something is one thing, but thinking you have the right to steal something is a whole different story. If you want to admit you steal the software, that's fine, but the fact you think you have the right to do so makes you look like a complete douchebag. Besides, there's plenty of free options that can be used to make EDM.

Yeah, I do find this attitude utterly mental. I guess if you've got no money you can go and rob PC world too, because they're infringing on your right to make EDM by charging money for PCs.

I mean, christ it must have been dark times before the late nineties when you had to actually have keyboards and guitars and shit, noone would have been able to make music without a bit of breaking-and-entering...

[legend4ry]

late nineties when you had to actually have keyboards and guitars and shit, noone would have been able to make music without a bit of breaking-and-entering...

Which happened a lot - mind you haha.

[makemerich]

yo hooo yoo hooo a pirate's life for meeee

EDIT: I'm going to laugh my ass off If i'm the only one to admit to pirating software. I bet at least 25% of the people that say they buy it all just pirate it all.


If I had no money would that mean I have no right to use massive? Would that mean I have no right to make EDM at all? Should the poor only use garageband demos? Seems kinda fucked up, but asi es la vida

No, you don't have the right to use it. Can you use it without paying for it? Sure you can, but you will do it illegally, and therefore the right to use it is voided. The right to use it comes when the price to use it is paid. Stealing something is one thing, but thinking you have the right to steal something is a whole different story. If you want to admit you steal the software, that's fine, but the fact you think you have the right to do so makes you look like a complete douchebag. Besides, there's plenty of free options that can be used to make EDM.


The price I would pay would be completely dependant on what the software does. If it's just a simple little spring delay plugin then chances of me paying for that is very low considering all the free options out there. When it comes to certain synths I won't even push the 50 dollar mark. Most of the synths I own I managed to pick up for 50 or less thanks to some really nice deals, like Z3ta+. I think the most I ever spent on an effect plugin was about 25 dollars or so, and I felt comfortable at that price for what I was getting. I think if I had the money to spend, and something really nice came along I would definitely drop 100+, but chances of me having that kind of money to just drop right now is low. Too many bills! I like having a place to sleep at night and food on the table, so rent and food comes before software....most of the time.

I guess my answer would be in the 25-50 range based on the software and the money I have to spend, but on a really good day it could definitely exceed 100.

well technically you could download the demo , you couldnt save but you could print tracks and you could take a screen shot of parameters.

[nowaysj]

late nineties when you had to actually have keyboards and guitars and shit, noone would have been able to make music without a bit of breaking-and-entering...

Which happened a lot - mind you haha.

I started making electronic music before vst's. That shit was NOT easy.

[futures_untold]

I've been known to download the demo, then bounce out audio before the little 'hiss' sound plays, then to uninstall the demo and live happily ever after with those beautiful samples I just created...

There's probably something in the EULA agreement about doing that, but I've not actually read any of 'em properly.

But I have started paying for software, because the devs will stop creating software if they can't eat and pay their living costs.

[deadly_habit]

i'm in the 100+ club
if it's good it's worth it
prime examples omnisphere, trilian, miroslav philharmonik etc

[Pedro Sánchez]

Daw - under £300
VSTi - under £150 although I have bought bundles that save shit loads
VST - under £100

[paravrais]

I've bought Reason, Record, Ableton and Alchemy plus a few cheapo indie things here and there and some NI stuff. Don't think I'll be needing to buy anything else for a long time though. Pretty much set at the moment.

Best investments are Alchemy and Ableton. Both are totally essential for me to make music now. I love them and would probably cry if I had to stop using them XD The other purchases I've made...meh, could have probably been better off saving the cash for something else to be honest.